NOVEL NEXT Chapter 16: Our Deal
***
CHARLOTTE stepped into the quiet apartment, the tension from the bar still simmering within her. Grandma was asleep, and Jeffery was engrossed in his phone, the soft glow illuminating his focused expression.
Charlotte settled onto the couch, her gaze drifting to the wall as her mind replayed the encounter with Wesley Jameson. His sudden appearance, the men he'd introduced, and the unsettling contract agreement swirled in her thoughts.
Jeffery glanced up, concern etched on his face. "Hey sis, everything okay?"
Charlotte opened her mouth to respond, but words faltered. She shook her head, a silent reassurance.
Jeffery returned to his game, casting occasional glances her way.
Charlotte's thoughts persisted, looping back to Wesley's unnerving questions. How did he know about her debts? The student loan, Grandma's thrift store loan, rent, mom's hospital bills, Jeffery's tuition... The weight of it all pressed upon her.
"Who is he?" she whispered, frustration creeping into her voice.
Jeffery looked up, startled. "Huh?"
Charlotte's cheeks flushed. "Nothing."
The sheet of paper crumpled in her hand, Wesley's contract agreement seeming to mock her. A relationship in exchange for his help. The implications made her skin itch.
"HELLO Miss Charlotte," Wesley waved at her as he walked into the bar.
He had gone to pick her up at the hospital but was told she had left.
Charlotte raised her head up from the counter desk. She eyed him and sighed.
How she had mentally beaten herself up for throwing her whole life at an offer, it was all to save her mom. She maintained her smile, adjusting her apron.
"What brings you here?" Charlotte asked coldly as she brought out shot bottles to mix an order.
"What brings me here? How ridiculous you sound Miss Charlotte? I'm here to get you. Loosen that thing off your waist and let's get going."
"Excuse me?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows.
"Oh, you're excused." He said and took the glass from her hand, gulping it down right away. "Let's go conclude our deal. Did you care to inquire why your mom was moved out of the shabby ward she used to be kept in?"
'Shabby?' She thought. In her defense, that was a decent ward. At least, for people of her standard.
"And did you care to ask the management who covered the bills for her most recent surgery??" Wesley furrowed his brows, it was only like that when he was pissed.
Charlotte's mouth went agap, before leaving the hospital she had gone to see her mom and to her greatest surprise her mom was moved to a private room, more exquisite where she was well taken care of and her latest surgery of which Charlotte had limited time had be covered and subsequent ones like the Doctor said when he came in to check in her. He was nice to her for the first time.
Charlotte knew it was Wesley Jameson but she wasn't happy with that arrangement.
As if meant she now owed him more than before. She quickly vowed within her to pay him back every dime by resuming work at the bar for the evening though she had taken a leave for a week.
"Thank you," Charlotte muttered with shame.
"Keep that, we have yet to finalize our deal. You don't know the rules to play by and yet you defile me." A smile played on his lips as he spoke.
Charlotte watched him mix a shot for himself.
"You agreed by parole to be my toy, and by conduct, in exchange, I'll take care of your mom, your family. A plus is, I'll train your brother to school." Wesley gulped the first shot without wincing like those other men she'd seen.
Charlotte looked about thanking her stars Stacy was not on duty tonight. She listened.
"Our deal is effective already because you moved in to stay with me. You are mine now. You can't continue to work here at this bar. It's not good for my reputation." He paused, looking into her cat eyes. Those eyes… he thought.